Top Ten Tuesday {8}

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. Every week there's a category and everyone participating lists their "Top Ten" in that category.

This week's topic is: Top Ten Favorite Books I Read in 2011

I read so many good books this year it was almost impossible to choose! There are one or two obvious ones in this mix, but for the most part I tried to go with books that I super enjoyed but you guys may not have heard much about.

1. Rosebush by Michele Jaffe [My Review]
I used to love mystery books as a kid, but somewhere along the lines I just kind of moved away from them. Rosebush reignited my love for mysteries with it's fantastic job of always keeping me in the dark just enough to keep me interested and on the edge of my seat.


2. Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levitham
How could I not love this book when much of it is about a bookstore?!? Really though, it was a super fun contemporary which had me gasping and "awwwing." If you've never read Levithan or COhn (especially together), this is a good place to start.

3. Beauty Queens by Libba Bray [My Review]
This book certainly took me by surprise. I loved the randomness of it all and the little sidenotes making fun of commercialism and certain aspects of society. It's basically what you may expect from the cover and there's nothing wrong with that at all. In fact, it's pretty perfect.


4. Want to Go Private by Sarah Darer Littman [My Review]
I never would have thought a book about a girl who gets taken advantage of by an internet predator would be so good, but it definitely was. This book was powerful and I believe it should be required reading in schools or at the very least, parents should read it along side their kids. This book is powerful.


5. Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson [My Review]
This was the first book I decided to read because a whole bunch of bloggers said it was good and boy howdy, am I glad I listened to their advice. This book is not only a super fun contemporary, it also has a road trip, random pictures scattered throughout, and actual playlists.

6. Divergent by Veronica Roth [My Review]
This is a pretty obvious choice, but it was just so darn good! The build-up in this book is perfect. There's never really a dull moment and the action is superb. I ended staying up waaayyy late into the night to finish this while I bawled my eyes out.


7. Plague by Michael Grant
This one may not be an obvious choice to everyone else, but it's a given for me. I absolutely love this series. I mean, come on, can you get any better than a world with no parents, weird evil things, and crazy super powers? Nope, it really doesn't get any better. 


8. The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
I read the Percy Jackson series a couple years back and I loved it, so when I found out Rick was writing another series in the same world and with some of the same characters, I was all over it. This series has just as much awesome action as the first, plus there's awesome new characters and you get to learn new things about the mythology.

9. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
I can't believe I waited so long to read this series. It's amazing the way Carrie can take a story about zombies and turn it into something new and beautiful. Have some tissues handy is you're reading these for the first time.


10. The Books of Elsewhere: The Shadows by Jacqueline West [My Review]
Why oh why did I spend years thinking I was too grown up for Middle Grade?? This book was a fantastic reintroduction into the world of Middle Grade literature and I can't wait to dive back in and read more. We have an awesome protagonist, magical glasses, and a creepy old house. Oh yeah, and talking cats. If you're apprehensive about Middle Grade, you should definitely check this book out.